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The University of Massachusetts Amherst

Art History 370: Junior Year Writing

Finding books

Book

 

Every non-fiction library book has subject headings assigned to classify it. Sometimes using key words will find you books on your subject, but except for very specific searches with distinctive words, using subject headings (known as LCSH's, or Library of Congress subject headings) will usually retrieve more books than just a keyword search.

Use key words to get LCSH's for better results. See the PowerPoint on this search strategy.

Also, remember to take your searches, if you like, from the local to the national/international level, by using Worldcat. If we have four or five books on subject x, and you want or need more information, search Worldcat using the same LCSH's you used for our catalog, and if you find books we don't own, you can order them by using Interlibrary loan (ILL). PowerPoint presentations on using Worldcat and ILL are on the home page of this guide.

Library catalogs

There is no "best" way to search for art books. Individual artists are listed in the catalog under both "Author" and "Subject" searches. However, subject searching under country names (e.g., "Art--China") or well-known generes such as "Art, Renaissance," can yield good results.

A combination of subject headings and keyword searches usually works best. See the PowerPoint presentation on better book searching.